acquisition

Dutch-British consumer goods company Unilever wants to acquire the food branch of British company Reckitt Benckiser, though is facing competition from American company Hormel Foods, British newspaper Sunday Times reports based on anonymous sources.

The acquisition involves around 2.2 billion pounds, or 2.5 billion euros, according to the newspaper. Reckitt is known for French's Mustard, Frank's RedHot Sauce, Worcestershire sauce and brands like Calgon, Durex, Nurofen and Clearasil.

Philips is acquiring American company Spectranetics for 1.9 billion euros, the Dutch company announced on Wednesday. Spectranetics is a leader in developing innovative methods for vascular surgery and with this acquisition, Philips is gaining technology that closely matches its own range of technologies for surgeries using imaging equipment, according to the Dutch health technology company.

A new consortium of six Dutch cyber security companies promised to not be taken over by foreign parties in order to best protect the cyber-side of important Dutch infrastructure. They feel that Dutch national interests and state secrets are best protected by Dutch companies. With this strategy the cyber security companies are taking advantage of controversy that arose when Fox IT was bought by a British investor in 2015, Financieele Dagblad reports.

American paint company PPG Industries decided to withdraw its takeover bid for AkzoNobel. After a final attempt to get the Dutch company to accept the bid, PPG decided to give up, PPG CEO Michael McGarry said in a statement. "Akzo did not respond. We believe it's best for PPG and its shareholders to stop this attempt now", he said, AD reports.

Vanderlande, based in Veghel in Brabant, builds logistic transport systems for warehouses, distribution centers and transportation centers. It is one of the world leaders in baggage conveyors at airports. The company employs 4,500 people worldwide, including 1,600 in the Netherlands. In 2015 Vanderlande had a turnover of almost one billion euros.

Dutch media mogul John de Mol's company Talpa made a bid for acquiring media group TMG, the parent company of Dutch newspapers De Telegraaf and Metro, among others. The offer price is 5.90 euros per share, Talpa announced on Monday, ANP reports.

Delta Lloyd is being acquired by NN Group. The insurance companies came to an agreement on a takeover amount of 2.5 billion euros, the largest takeover in the Dutch insurance industry ever, the Volkskrant reports.

The court declared USG, parent company of Perry Sport and Aktiesport, bankrupt on Tuesday afternoon. Many parties are showing interest in taking over the two sporting goods chains. Dozens of potential buyers already made themselves known.

Shareholders at Dutch-British oil and gas firm Royal Dutch Shell approved the 47 billion dollar (43 billion euro) of the United Kingdom gas company BG Group. Roughly 83 percent of shareholders gave their blessing to the deal during a meeting in Den Haag, Shell said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pharmacy chain DA was officially declared bankrupt by the court in Amsterdam on Tuesday, but a takeover by the Nederlandse Drogisterij Service means that the pharmacy will not completely disappear. The takeover does come with some job losses however, union FNV stated on Tuesday based on a letter to the staff.

Beer brand Grolsch is officially up for sale, AB InBev and SABMiller announced on Thursday. The reason for the sale is to ease European regulatory' authorities concerns on competition considerations in the AB InBev - SABMiller merge.

Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev has approached SABMiller with a takeover plan that would create a combined company with a market value about 250 billion dollars. This takeover would merge two of the largest beer brewers in the world.

Dutch airplane company Fokker Technologies is being taken over by British company GKN Aerospace. On Tuesday GKN announced that it is acquiring Fokker for 706 million euros from British investor Arle Capital.

Ajax is considering the possibility of making a buy-out offer for a majority stake in the Amsterdam ArenA. The team's managing director, Michael Kinsbergen, drew up a medium-term plan in which the potential purchase is included, reports Voetbal International.

Danish brewer Carlsberg has appointed Dutchman Cees 't Hart as their new CEO, who will start on June 15th when current CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen leaves the company. The new CEO is leaving behind his role as the CEO of Dutch dairy company FrieslandCampina, a position he has held since 2008.